Sweet Little Lies
by DiehardJavaJunkie14
Summary: Rachel finds the horoscope in "Star Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers"... what happens next? JavaJunkie AU oneshot.


**A/N: Sophie dug up this challenge from BWR for me to attack. After bouncing ideas and logistics off of her, Sophie unknowingly inspired this fic. I present to you, "Sweet Little Lies". I don't own Gilmore girls or the song. But my mom owns the Fleetwood Mac album "Little Lies" is on.**

Luke sat on the couch, with an empty beer bottle in his left hand and the remote in his right hand, waiting for the sports news to come on so he could go to bed. Rachel sat at the table, filing through her latest scrapbook. Luke had nearly dozed off before he heard Rachel groan.

"Seriously, credit card debt can be avoided, but the credit card companies really take advantage of these poor people who need to buy a new carburetor or a water heater. That's so sad."

Luke turned to her, slowly opening his eyes. "Huh?"

"How many credit cards do you have?" she pressed.

He straightened up and tried to process what she was saying. "Why?"

She pushed her chair back, and without getting up, opened the drawer. She located a pair of scissors and pulled her chair close to the table once again. "I don't want you being one of those poor souls who gets ripped off by these credit card companies. Give me a few you don't use so I can cut them."

Luke turned to face her. "It's no big deal, I don't spend that much. It's all on the diner if I spend anything at all."

Rachel stood up and grabbed Luke's wallet off of the other end of the table. "Come on, Luke, you can't let them rip you off! Okay, this one's the diner's credit card, this one's yours, the rest are getting cut up."

Luke stood up from the couch and watched as Rachel opened his wallet, pulling out everything inside. He held out his hand, spitting out fragments of words, before Rachel came across an old, crumbled piece of paper.

"You will meet an annoying woman today… give her coffee and she'll go away," Rachel read out loud. "What's this?" she asked, letting out a little laugh.

Luke sat at the table, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, that's from Lorelai… a long time ago. From the day we met, actually. I forgot I had that," he said, holding out his hand.

Rachel dropped the piece of paper in it, watching him as he looked at it.

Luke looked at her and was stunned by her reaction. Part of him expected a blowup. The other expected her to cry. But no part of him at all expected to see her gathering her things and packing her bags without a word. He watched as she gathered up her belongings from the bathroom and put them in her duffel bag.

But he could say nothing. There really wasn't a defense in the world that would help him out. And the fact that she had all of her belongings so close to the duffel bag made a statement of its own.

She wouldn't have stuck around, anyway. She never did.

He stood up and leaned against the doorframe, trying to figure out what to say to her. He took off his baseball cap and scratched his head. Clearing his throat, he crossed his arms and thought of something to say.

"You're leaving," Luke said.

Rachel nodded. "I am."

"Was it something I said?"

She shrugged. "I had a bad feeling. Not a bad feeling about being back, but a weirdness of being with you again. This kind of just… confirmed it, you know?"

"I'm still not following," he replied.

"I didn't even think for a second about you in all of this. You and Lorelai, wow. I mean, yeah, I could see it, but… wow. That horoscope is… from awhile back. Why didn't you say something, Luke?"

Luke watched Rachel, trying to figure out exactly what she was implying. And suddenly it hit him. She thought he and Lorelai were together!

"Uh, look, Rachel," he said, trying to straighten things out.

Rachel smiled. "Really, it's okay. But I do have this need to apologize to Lorelai. I mean, when we talked at the festival, you could have told me, you know. You didn't have to keep it from me, Luke. I would have understood. When were you going to tell me, though?"

"Tell you… what, there's nothing to tell," Luke protested.

Rachel hugged Luke. "I'm okay with it, really. I'm glad you guys are so happy. Now come with me while I apologize to Lorelai and get this out of the way. You owe me, for hiding this from me," she said, pointing to him.

Luke's head was spinning. He wasn't exactly sure what to do. He tried to protest several times on the way to the Crap Shack, but Rachel wouldn't have it. When Lorelai opened the door, all Luke could do was cringe. This was going to get ugly.

He tried to say something, but no words came out. He watched as Rachel took a deep breath and began to talk.

"So, uh, I came here to apologize for taking Luke from you. I didn't know about you guys, and Luke hadn't quite gotten around to telling me," she started.

Lorelai looked at Luke, confused. "Tell you what?"

Rachel smiled. "Okay, I should get going… but before I do, I should say this. I saw you two, at the festival. And I saw the way he looked at you. Never, in my entire life, have I seen Luke look at me or any other girl the way he looked at you. He kept that horoscope! From the day you met! And when someone mentions you, he gets all red in the face, kind of looks down at his shoes and does this rubbing the back of his neck thing. He really loves you, Lorelai. You two have this obvious spark, you know? And I knew something was going on. But, I guess I wanted to kind of deny it… which is stupid. So, I apologize, and uh… he's a keeper."

She patted Luke on the arm, put her bags in the trunk of the cab, and turned to face Luke. "Don't wait too long to make this thing you two have going on permanent, okay? You don't want to lose her, either. I noticed that smile, the way she looked right into your eyes… okay, now I need to leave. I'm getting all sappy now, and I'm going to leave you two alone." She turned around and left.

Lorelai looked at Luke, obviously holding back some sort of emotion. "You uh…" she started. "K-kept the horoscope?"

He simply nodded and looked at his shoes, rubbing the back of his neck in anxiety.

"You're doing the shoes thing, and the neck…"

He looked up at Lorelai, clearing his throat and starting to say something.

"Luke, you're blushing. Oh… my god, you…"

"Well, you're doing the smiling and looking into my eyes thing, how do you think I'm supposed to react?" he muttered.

She pulled him by the arm and leaned in to kiss him. As Luke pulled back, stunned, she crossed her arms. "Like that would have been nice. Care to give it a shot?"

Luke leaned in and initiated the kiss, and Lorelai pulled back.

"So, that was a sweet little lie you just told her."

"Lie by omission," Luke replied.

"Still a lie," Lorelai said with a wink. "Just don't lie to me and we've got this covered."

"I can manage that," Luke said, leaning in for another kiss.


End file.
